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Idly his tail swept across the concrete as he walked, sword sheathed comfortably at his side as he strolled down the street. His mother didn't know that he was out and about, but then again, she was far too busy panicking about this and that and who knew what to even notice that he'd slipped out.

At first he'd begun to wander without any preset destination. As he recalled, the last time he'd gone wandering he'd chanced a run into Nalira- and that damned wolf. He frowned at the thought, and shifted his hand to thumb over a bite mark that had been inflicted to his arm.

Regardless of the dark memory that had filtered through his head, he was feeling incredibly cheerful. After all, the sun was out, and the day was warm- but not hot. Perfect for a walk.

He didn't know how long he'd been walking, but he suddenly found himself outside the Stationary Store. He knew it was a long, long way from home, and a pang of guilt ran through him at the knowledge that he hadn't told Dragonfly where he was going whatsoever, but he was here now. Perhaps he would go inside and give Dragonfly a call, if only to let her know that he was alright.

And so Lance pulled open the door, the shop bell ringing faintly as he slipped inside.

"Lance?" Vidya questioned once, walking quite a distance behind her scaled friend, and quite slowly for that matter. She'd recognized the dragon-boy, even from behind...and she was more than eager to get his attention. "Lance? Lance! L-A-N-C-E!" She tried again, cupping her hands around her mouth to echo her voice but...to no avail. Apparently, Lance was too busy zoning out to hear her, then he subsequently disappeared into the stationary store.

With a rather unimpressed grumble, Vidya forced her aching legs to move faster, until she had somewhat of a jog to her step. The tale didn't dare go faster than that...she was sore all over, and her energy levels had been drooping as of late. But, for Lance, she decided to risk being bed-ridden the next day.

Finally, she made it to the stationary store...but couldn't bring herself to open it. "...Damn it.." She grumbled, leaning forward so her hands rested against the small ledge on the outside of the store, her long hair pulled over her shoulders and doing a wonderful job of hiding her pain-ridden face. "Shouldn't have done that..." She managed to breathe out, trying to make her voice cheerful in the hopes it'd trick her brain into being happy.

Then, with a soft sigh, she sank to her knees infront of the stationary shop, managing to turn herself around to sit on her bottom, with her back against the stone of the building. Good enough place to rest for now, she thought.

Elena was, once again, in the Stationary Store by herself. Not napping this time, oh no. This time she was actually doing a bit of shopping. So what if she'd been denied an allowance for sneaking out of the house last time; the day she couldn't get some spare cash out of Dyran was the day she'd give up and become a hermit. Humming a soft tune to herself as she browsed the various sets of stationary available, Elena wasn't aware of Lance's arrival. Having finally picked out a pack of paper - dark blue with embossed silver stars scattered over the paper - Elena made a quick pirouette and stopped halfway, facing the door with the paper clutched to her chest.

"Lance!" she cried happily, eyes wide and glowing slightly as the long skirt on her dress swished to a stop around her ankles. She hadn't seen the dragon Tale since that awful day at the lake and oddly enough, Lance was one of the reasons Elena was currently buying paper. "I was just thinking about you," she continued with a smile, stepping a bit closer to him, paper and arms now dropped down to her side. "You look a lot better than the last time we saw each other," Elena added with a more mischievous and teasing tone to her voice.

It had been a full day already for the young Tale. He managed to sneak past all the evils of his house after gaining permission to go out from his Author, he had braved his way too Khalindra's house and got Aiden to yet again allow him to take Khali out again (thus rescuing her from the horrors of toddling twins), and now he had no idea where to go or what to do.

He and Khali were walking together hand in hand. The ram-horned boy was walking on the sidewalk with Khalindra and making a slightly concentrated effort to keep between her and the street just in case a vehicle goes haywire or something. Armel preferred that he get ran over first thus giving Khalindra time to make a run for it and hopefully get him some help while at it.

As they seemed to aimlessly walk they came in view of the Stationary Shop and Vidya who seemed to be resting in the front of it. Armel glanced down at Khalindra, "Ye meet m'cousin Viddy yet?" he indicated down toward the blue girl. This wasn't the first time he spoke to the girl beside him, but it was probably one of the first questions he had asked her other than the initial 'how are you?' upon getting away from Aiden and the twins.

Khalindra had been ever grateful that Armel had rescued her. Her twin siblings had slowly began to toddle around and Emi was only encouraging them. These distractions did NOT help the young Tale's quest for silence as she learned to read.

When Armel had shown up, she jumped at the chance to go. Of course, she hadn't had time to get dressed in something else and was still half in her pajamas. Not that she really minded. The shirt was a silk one the color of the night sky and her skirts were the deep reds and oranges of dusk. It may have clashed but nobody could dispute that it wasn't comfortable.

"Uh huh, she's supposed to be my prince," she reminded him. Khali remembered telling him about that the last time they met - but maybe he didn't, "Hello, Prince Viddy!" She called, giving a bounce on her heels and a squeeze to Armel's hand.

Lance was indeed, too out of the loop to hear Vidya calling his name, and he disappeared into the Stationary Store without noticing her. It was hard to miss Elena though, since she appeared right in front of him, just as beautiful and elegant as ever.

He smiled to her, bowing politely in greeting, before sweeping over to close the gap between them.

"Hello Princess! You look as radient as ever I see," he replied, a wide smile forming upon his lips. All his darker thoughts and memories were pushed out of his mind, and a brightness returned to his eyes that seemed to have been missing before, "It is good to see you, Elena. How have you been? The last time we met- I daresay we were both a little out of sorts," He chuckled nervously.

He was still feeling somewhat out of sorts- but he was sleeping better. Not exactly perfectly, but well enough.

Hearing the footsteps of approaching people wasn't something new...they were in a town, after all! But what did count as new or noteworthy, was her name being called. Or rather, a sort of nickname of hers.

"Oh, crap..." She grumbled under her breath...someone had recognized her, and there was no way she'd let anyone she knew catch her in such pain, or in such exhaustion. Scrounging up the best happy mask she could, she slowly turned her head to face Khali and Armel as they approached her. "Hiya, Princess, Hiya Couz~" Lifting a hand, she waved at them, then promptly rested her lower arm on her outstretched legs. After a moment or two of wallowing in her own silence, she looked directly at them again, happy that her bangs were able to shadow most of her face. "And how are the two of you doing on this lovely day?" Vidya asked, a forced but convincing smile on her pale lips, and her eyes closed in forced joy to prevent them seeing how she was really feeling.

"It's my specialty," Elena replied with a wink and a silvery laugh. Best behavior, definently; Elena wanted to impress Lance with how gracious and elegant she was. Hopefully no one else showed up at the shop that would ruin it, like that annoying girl from the last time she was here. She dropped a brief curtsy in response to his bow, the motion shorter than she normally made it, hindered by the pack of paper she held in one hand.

"I've been alright. Mum adopted another baby," she said with a roll of her eyes. "And since this time it actually is a baby, she's been making it hard for all of us to sleep." Nevermind the fact that she'd been having problems sleeping befrehand, it was so much easier to blame it on the new baby. "But all in all, things have been going better. I gather it's been much the same for you? she asked, resting a hand on his arm momentarily before using that hand to twirl a strand of hair about her finger.

Armel flinched slightly, "Oh! Aye, aye, I remember now. Sor'y abou' tha' Khali, I can usually remember stuff bet'r than tha'." He managed to sound apologetic as he too lifted his arm to wave to Vidya and with Khali holding his hand and walking with him the two quickly closed the distance between them and her. There was a slight bit of nervousness to his tone that seemed to somehow strengthen his odd accent for a short moment.

As the gap was closed he smiled warmly at Vidya, and managed to hide whatever concern he may have been having about his cousin. Though she didn't let him see her in pain he could still feel that something was just a little off. Usually she bowled him over, but today it seemed different, "Well met, cousin!" he greeted her happily, "I am just fine, and you?" he turned the question back to Vidya.

He swallowed down the concern he felt with a healthy dose of reasoning; after all he was walking hand-in-hand with Khali and perhaps Viddy was scared of hurting them, plus they were all currently standing on cement...

"It's okay," Khali returned to Armel, "I don't always remember everything either." The gypsy child confided before she turned her attention over to the blue prince that she had met so long ago and hadn't seen since. She looked a bit different to her, but she wouldn't say anything.

Armel seemed to know her - cousins, were they? - and he didn't appear very concerned so it wasn't as if she should be either, right? The logic made perfect sense to her young mind.

"I've been okay," she answered Vidya, "Learnin' to read and bothering Armel." Her head turned and she smiled cheekily at the horned Tale, "He's fun." and, with an after thought, "Yourself?"

Lance smiled enigmaticly back at Elena, and listened with rapt attention at what she had to say on the subject of how her life was going. Lance really did care to know how she was doing, after all, from the moment they had met Lance had decided that she was a friend to keep. Not only a friend, but an ally as well.

"Oh really? My mother brought home a child- not a baby- but a handful, and an annoyance as well," his nose curled up in distaste as he thought of her, and he shook her head, "Ardith- she's a dragon, like me. But... Well. She's...."

He shook his head, and although he wanted to describe her exactly as she was- a bully, a brat, and an abnormally cruel little girl, he found that the thought of badmouthing her in such a way didn't agree with him, and so he merely said, "She's everything I strive not to be. I'm hoping that perhaps before she gets older, I can get her out of such cruel habits,"

He laughed nervously, his wings flaring out a bit, before folding once more, and he shrugged his shoulders again.

"Other than that, things at my home are generally fairly drab. Training with Vincent is something that I always look forward to, but I've found that sleeping is a bit of a waste, as I do fine enough with just a little of it. So I've been devoting myself to reading during the nighthours, generally," he explained, "I'm sure my mother wouldn't approve- but.."

Oh, wait...asking them how they were doing was also a bad idea, as it usually got turned back on hers--ah, there it was. Both of them, asking her how she was doing. Wow, she was really bad at this avoiding certain things...thing.

"Well Met." Vidya repeated softly, a thinner smile on her lips this time. If they'd noticed how fake she was being, they didn't draw any attention to it...and she certainly was thankful for that. She paused for only a moment, trying to think of something logical to say to answer them, without outright lying to them. "I'm...quite enjoying this weather! Its very relaxing." There! An answer that both avoided the subject completely yet at the same time gave a sort of answer.

"Learning to read, eh? Good for you, Princess! You're faster than me in that regard, I didn't want to learn until I grew up." Normally, she could have ruffled the girl's hair but today...she settled for a proud thumbs up. "Bugging Melly's a good past time too, keep up the good work~" Her voice trailed off as she glanced towards her cousin.

"And...What have you been getting into, 'Melly?"

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post order, in case you forgot: Dee, Enoh, Ithums, Pallybert, Kyri

Oddly enough, that's how people are labelled on my AIM list. =D Except I'm marked as Iffums occasionally. Depends on which SN I'm rambling, oh god.

Armel's lips broke into a goofy grin as a free hand reached a hand to the back of his head with a small chuckle. A blush crept along the boy's cheeks, and the blush didn't stop until it also bridged across his nose, "Ach, now I'm a hobby or somethin'?" he replied to the banter between the girls that involved him but he didn't sound at all insulted more amused.

He let the two girls talk on as he busied himself by glancing into the store as if trying to catch who else was in the Stationary Shop, but all he could perceive were vague shadowy outlines. Though at least one of them looked familiar, but he couldn't be sure. Vidya's question brought him back to the people around him and he looked at Khali and then to Vidya and made his reply, "Nothin' much, Viddy, jus' rescuin' Khali an' gettin' ready t'go get m'lessons from a blacksmith named Morian," he tapped his foot against the ground for a moment before adding, "An' I visited wi' Lance the other day and I met one o' 'is friends," it was an attempt to not seem quite so boring to his cousin and Khalindra.

Vidya stuck her tongue out at Armel. "Yes, yes you are." She said simply, then followed Khali's movements with her eyes alone. Then, her attention went back to Armel. "Rescuing my Princess...thanks Armel! I'm sorry Khali, I must fail at being a prince." She managed to chuckle softly. "Lance? Lance is here to, I saw him go inside." With a soft hiss, she bit down on her lower lip, then dipped her head a little bit.

"What is what? A Hobby?" Vidya lazily canted her head...then thought better of it and just stared forward. "A hobby is...something you enjoy doing that takes time. Like sewing or reading or dancing, I guess." It was the best she could describe it, really...but that was close enough, yeah?

Then, the dreaded question. "Its...nice out here?" She said, as though she didn't know why she was out here. "...If you want, we can go inside, Princess.." Vidya said with a thin smile, attempting to blow off any suspicions.